Gensokyo Railway Series 21 (Engines in Winter)
by Pergold
Summary: The engines of Gensokyo's railway live through the trials and tribulations of winter operation during the Shinto holiday season. Meanwhile, Reimu and Sanae are engaged in a shrine war, cutting the prices of their tickets and investing in more lavish festivals, will this lead to financial ruin for the two shrines? What would be their undoing?
1. Prologue

It was the middle of autumn, the year was beginning to come to a close. This year, 2015, had been very eventful. Between Kenta's major overhaul after Flandre Scarlet nearly killed him, the construction of the Mayohiga extension, and of course, the destruction of the Sanzu Harbor. But late fall was when two large Shinto holidays were going to happen. _Shichigosan_ and _Niinamesei_ , both the Hakurei Shrine and the Moriya Shrine were gearing up for the holiday season and has such, have begun to cut ticket prices to increase patronage.

However, Reimu and Sanae were greedy for both faith and money and both shrines were on the verge of a price war. It was mid-October and so far, tickets to the Hakurei and Moriya shrines were at 95% of their original price. But the next day, Reimu cut the price to 90% of the original amount, and the next day, Sanae cut hers. The railway executives wanted to keep a close eye on the two as they paid a percentage of their profits to the Gensokyo Railway as they used the railway's services to increase their patronage.

"I hope they don't dig us a hole we can't get out." said the Scarlet Controller.

"Look Remilia, the shrines are hungry for people and faith. They'll just keep cutting ticket prices!" replied Nitori Kawashiro, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the railway.

"And our profits." responded the Scarlet Controller.

All the while the two talked, Yukari Yakumo stayed quiet. It took the two other several minutes of debating before they remembered that Yukari was in the room and they asked her about her opinion on the matter.

"If they cut prices, so what?" Yukari said with a mysterious tone.

"They'll take the railway down with us!" the two others said in unison.

"They'll bankrupt themselves before they could ruin _us_."

"Then its a matter of when, _when_ will they ruin us?" said Nitori.

"Its for me to know and for you to find out." alluded Yukari.

The Scarlet Controller and Nitori raised their eyebrows in suspicion.

"Go on. Tell us." said the Scarlet Controller.

"I must be going, I don't want to _spoil the fun_." Yukari left into one of her gaps and exited the room.

"I hope the answer comes to us quicker than when Yukari wants us to." said Nitori.

The two stared at each other, each being dead silent. Except for the ticking noise of a clock on the wall.


	2. Ichihiro, Yuugi, and the Snow

Fall had finally come full swing in Gensokyo. The grassy fields and the trees in the forest turned from green to brown and many other colors. Fallen leaves had become an issue for the other engines and delayed some trains. Ichihiro was running down his branch line when he came across an oni wandering down the tracks. He stopped and whistled to get her attention.

"Hello! Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Yuugi Hoshiguma and I'm an oni and who are you?"

"I'm Ichihiro and I run this branch line. What are you doing here."

"Odd jobs, whoever has the guts to hire me. We onis are strong and devilish, but we aren't made of money. I just finished plowing a field."

"We engines are strong too and we don't have to worry about money."

Yuugi felt like yanking Ichihiro's coupling chain and teased him.

"I least I can go anywhere anytime to any place."

Ichihiro felt indignant, "I like my rails thank you." and he puffed away to finish his work.

The weeks past, _Shichigosan_ happened and the shrine ticket prices were at 67% off. Snow came early and coated Gensokyo in a thick layer.

"A heavy fall of snow is going to happen sooner or later." said Ichihiro's driver.

"I'm not scared! Snow is silly soft stuff." Ichihiro replied.

When he got to the big station he had found that he was to be equipped with a snowplow.

"What is _that_! I'm not wearing it!"

"You'll have to wear it for your next journey."

The countryside was covered in snow and Ichihiro hated using the snowplow. It was uncomfortable and this made him angry. He shook it and he banged it and by the end of the day, it was badly damaged.

"Your a very naughty engine!" his driver said, and she shut him in the shed.

The next morning, some workers were trying to fix the snowplow, but it was no good and Ichihiro had to leave it behind.

"Snow is silly soft stuff. That snowplow is nothing to me." he boasted.

Ani and Kuraraberu were worried. His driver told him, "The snow's fine here, but it'll be deeper on our branch!"

Ichihiro puffed across the line thinking how clever he was, he wasn't even concerned about the drifts of snow. He was so distracted that he crashed right into a large pile of snow that had built up on the track in the Bamboo Forest near Eientei.

Ichihiro tried to move forward, but he couldn't. His driver threw on the reverser and all it did was make Ichihiro more stuck in the snow. He was almost completely buried. He was upset and began to cry, thinking he'll be left to be frozen and it was all his fault. The guard had went to go get help, the driver, the firewoman, and the passengers tried to dig Ichihiro out of the snow. Soon, an old bus that had been in Gensokyo for a long while, came to pick up the stranded passengers and none other than Yuugi Hoshiguma had come to rescue him.

Yuugi had brought some chain to extend the coupling on the back of Kuraraberu so she could hoist it over her shoulder and pull the empty coaches out. Once the coaches were pulled away, she walked back to Ichihiro and tried to use the chain to pull Ichihiro out. She changed her mind halfway through and thought it'd be quicker just to hoist him by the rear buffer beam and grab him out. Ichihiro was soon free of the snow.

"Thank you Yuugi. I've met onis before, but you must be one of the strongest."

"No problem Ichihiro. Its not the first time I had to help the railway."

"You have better had learned your lesson Ichihiro." his driver barged in.

"I'll try." said Ichihiro.

With that, now having been humbled. He went back to the big station.


	3. Wheelslip

Winter came early to Gensokyo, most of the fairies had went into hibernation. Except for Cirno, who enjoyed making makeshift sleds and sliding down hills and snowbanks. _Niinamesei_ had past, but the shrines continued to decrease their ticket prices, which at this point were half off.

One night, instead of snowing, it was sleeting outside. By the next morning, the snow had a shiny gloss from the ice. The engines were getting ready in their shed.

"I'm telling you Hiroto, there really are faster trains outside of here!" said Ahiru.

" _Nansensu_ , I can be faster. Watch me later today, I'll show you who can be a high speed engine!" and with that, Hiroto left the sheds.

The big station was busy, everybody wore warm clothing and the other engines were busy despite the clod temperatures.

"I'll show that Ahiru.", said Hiroto, "We'll see who can go the fastest."

He coupled to his express and waited for the guard to blow his whistle. It felt like forever when finally he heard the guard's whistle blow. He moved several feet before stopping to take on a late passenger.

"This means I'll be late and I'll have to go _faster_."

Hiroto, with all his might, tried to go as fast as possible. But he stopped on a section of rail that were frozen over, a thin film of ice covered the track. Hiroto was moving his wheels and pumping his pistons as fast as he could, but he stayed put. The water from his tender surged forward and made it so he plenty of steam to continue. His wheels made a loud screeching noise as he wore down the rails. The other engines watched with interest as passengers on the platforms had to cover their ears. It took a long while for Hiroto to lose all his steam. He was tired when he finally stopped. The passengers disembarked and demanded refunds, the Scarlet Controller's head maid tossed some throwing knives at the crowd and the Scarlet Controller commanded the passengers to take notice or else, she announced that a new train will put in order and the passengers will be given most of their money back.

Hachirou pulled Hiroto and took him to the works to be looked at. Cobol took Hiroto's train in his place and succeeded in making the journey to the Moriya Shrine. The next day, workers had to replace the rail as the rails that Hiroto's wheels skidded on had left large noticeable divots and they had to be replaced.

By the time Hiroto was finished being looked at, Shiro put him in the sheds. Hiroto was alone until night had come and the others returned.

"High speed engine are all very well." said Shiro.

"But..." added Akemi, "Hiroto should know by now that he has to _move_ his train too."

Hiroto snorted disgustedly and went to sleep as the whispers subsided into silence.


	4. Ichihiro and the Missing Tree

It was the third week of December and winter was now in full swing, the railway had to be constantly cleared of snow and the delays from clearing of large drifts annoyed the other engines, all except for Ichihiro, who had learned the importance of keeping snow cleared. The shrines were preparing the Shinto new year and they cut the price of their ticket to now 60% off, they were actually beginning to lose money as economy of scale was now working against them, even if the donations as of late were now more generous than ever.

The Scarlet Controller was waiting impatiently for Ichihiro at the big station. Decoration were being put up for the new year, but because the Scarlet Controller was a vampire from Romania, she had plans of her own.

"Ichihiro." she began, "I have an important load for you to take. I have ordered a Christmas tree from Kourindou and I want you to take it, I'm having a party at the Scarlet Devil Mansion and its important that you deliver it to me."

Ichihiro was excited, "Oh I will, sir!" and he rushed off to collect the tree.

"I wonder what Christmas is?" he said to himself.

He collected the tree and left the Kourindou station, but the line cut through a section of the Forest of Magic and the trees were overburdened with snow. Ichihiro trundled through, he blew his whistle. But the sound of his whistle combined with a strong wind, caused Ichihiro to be covered from smokebox to cab in snow.

"Not again!" he said, muffled by the snow.

Back at the big station, almost the entire staff of the Scarlet Devil Mansion waited to take the tree back to the mansion.

"Are you sure you ordered the tree?" asked Patchouli Knowledge, the librarian.

"Of course I did! I sent Ichihiro to take it this morning!" barked the Scarlet Controller, she mad because of the delay.

"Mistress." said her head maid, Sakuya Izayoi, "You sent him out at 11:40, now its 3:50."

"I know that!"

She noticed Hachirou resting on a siding, she and Sakuya walked over to him and she asked if Hachirou could find him.

"I will sir. But I'll have to get my snowplow, the drifts can be deep because of the wind and trees on that branch line."

"Good, Ichihiro has a special load for me and its important that it gets to me."

Remilia tried to call the Kourindou store, but some telecommunications equipment had been frozen over and stopped working. Hachirou puffed away to find Ichihiro. He came across small snow drifts on the line and he pushed them aside easily. Then, he across a drift significantly bigger than the rest, that was went he heard something.

"Help!" came a distant muffled voice.

"Hush, Hachirou! I hear something." said his driver.

"Help!" came the voice again.

"No, Listen!"

"Over here!"

"Oh! It's Ichihiro! Come on, the poor engine must be frozen to the frames!"

Time past as workers tried to dig Ichihiro out of the snow. His driver and firewoman returns after a failed attempt to get some help, and they too helped to dig him out. But at last, he was free. Hachirou and Ichihiro went together, back to the station. It was 7:38 when they came back.

"Finally! It's here!" said an excited Scarlet Controller.

"Good, it was getting late." replied Koakuma, Patchouli's assistant.

They quickly unloaded the tree and hoisted it onto a wagon and they took it back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Soon, it was the 24th and the Scarlet Controller held a party, she invited the two shrine maidens. Whom didn't want to admit their economic defeat. Marisa and a pregnant Alice arrived too as well as the whole Yakumo clan. The party was a success, but Sakuya Izayoi asked her mistress a question.

"Why are we celebrating a Christian holiday? No one here is a Christian and I thought they hated vampires?"

"The humans in the outside world celebrate it by shopping for their ungrateful others and think that an old _debu_ would come down and give them gifts." the Scarlet Controller replied.

"What does that mean?"

"It means we're having fun and you should just relax." and with that, she left to entertain the guests.

That same night in the sheds were the engines slept, had one thing on their minds. What was so important about that tree being delivered?

"Well, whatever it is for. I hope they're enjoying it." said no one in particular, but the voice was probably Ichihiro's.


	5. Shrine-ing Time Station

It was December, 31st 2015, New Year's Eve. Both shrines at both ends of the mainline were preparing themselves for _Oshagatsu_ , the Shinto New Year. Both the Hakurei and Moriya Shrine had not only ordered special charter trains that passengers could ride for free, but they also charged 80% less for the tickets for the regular trains to their shrines. They had all been running at a loss for the past two months and after the holiday was over, the tickets would return to normal prices, that is if they are still solvent.

It was a cold gray day in Gensokyo when the engines woke up the next morning. Their schedules were given to them, Hiroto and Kenta were to alternate pulling the express trains, Hachirou was to do his usual route to take passengers from Mayohiga to the Human Village so they could board the other trains, Akemi and Cobol were taking the charter trains, leaving Ichihiro, Shiro, Ahiru, and Kiyoshi to due their usual work.

The trains worked like clockwork and the railway moved smoothly as the Shinto shrines reached record level patronage and record level debt. However, the charter trains and the two expresses weren't arranged properly and things would become dire as the day continued further.

Cobol arrived to the Hakurei Shrine with a train filled to the brim with passengers. However, unlike the jovial nature of the passengers, Reimu Hakurei was crying in the corner.

"What's wrong ma'am?" asked Cobol.

"I'm ruined!" said Reimu.

"Why? How are you ruined? Your shrine seems to have a lot of people here, you should be happy!"

"I know I should, but I'm broke! I payed lots of money for a charter train for cheap humans."

"Cheer up miss! Whoever you owe the money to, they'll understand."

"Really?" Reimu sniffled her nose.

"Yes." said Cobol, "Go ahead and do what shrine maidens do."

Reimu, now feeling a little more confident, "Even if this the last day I work and live here. I will work hard to make it the best New Year ever, I'll show that Sanae that I'm the best poor miko around!"

She marched up to deal with the humans and conduct her rituals, however she couldn't much as she isn't able to provide faith directly to her patron god.

Cobol felt proud that he made one of the most important humans in Gensokyo feel good about herself. It was going to be a while before he would have to go back to the big station and he rested by the platform. He was about to shut his eyes when he heard a distant whistle. That whistle belonged to Kenta and he was coming in with the express.

"Driver!" Cobol yelled, "Kenta's coming! We need to clear the platform!"

The whistle came again, "Your right! We need to get you and the coaches out of here!" said his driver.

His driver went inside the cab and tried to turn Cobol's engine on, but the engine couldn't start! She tried to turn the ignition but the engine wouldn't catch on. All she could do was blast the horn to warn Kenta that Cobol was stuck.

"That's Cobol!" cried Kenta's driver.

At nearly full speed, Kenta's driver applied the brakes. Kenta's wheels slipped and slid down the icy rails, he remained at full speed for a long while. Cobol's driver warned all the passengers to clear the platform, Reimu helped to managed the now panicked people. Kenta's wheels locked up as he skidded into the yard. In the rear coach, the guard looked out the side window.

"I wonder what's gotten into those humans." she said, unaware of her dangerous situation.

Kenta blasted into the yard as there was only seconds to disaster. Kenta shut his eyes. Cobol screamed, "QUICK! GET OUT! OR ITS GOING TO BE TOO LATE!"

The guard heard Cobol's voice but it was too late! With a deafening crash and a loud CRUNCH! Kenta slammed into the rear coach and destroyed not only the coach, but his front, and the guard. The coach was turned into splintered wood, bent steel, and broken glass.

"Oooooohhhh, I feel terrible." said Kenta.

"Are you alright?!" cried Cobol.

"I feel funny."

Cobol's driver realized that they were missing a person, or rather, a kappa.

"Guard! Guard! Where's the guard!" yelled Cobol's driver.

A stunned onlooker could only point to the obliterated coach. The driver was too shocked to say what she wanted to say, she could only mouth it out and no sound came out of her throat. She walked to the edge of the platform and knelt down beside the ruined coach and cried. Reimu walked beside her too, and knelt down beside her.

"It was my fault this happened, I never should have order this expensive charter train to begin with." Reimu.

Cobol overheard what Reimu said and said, "No, it was my fault. My engine should have started and I could have moved the train."

The breakdown train was called in and Shiro and Kiyoshi were shocked.

"What happened?" asked Shiro.

No one had the guts to explain, but the driver stood up and sadly told Shiro what had happened.

Shiro gasped, "The guard, she's-"

"She's dead Shiro." the driver clarified.

"But!"

Reimu walked over. "It was my fault." she said sadly.

"Hmmm...Unless we do a proper investigation, we can't be sure who caused this accident." Shiro told Reimu.

"But until then, everybody is innocent until proven otherwise." he continued.

Kenta was towed out from the wreck. His face was bruised and cuts from the steel and wood were speckled around his face. Both his eyes were blackened from the impact. The Scarlet Controller arrived to inspect what had happened.

"Kenta. You'll be sent to the works to be mended. Cobol will also be taken there. We will also have to scrap the coach if its too badly broken."

"But what about the guard? Her body is still in there!" said Shiro.

"We will untangle her in the meantime. You need to take Kenta to be repaired."

"Yes, Sir."

As soon as the body was exhumed from the twisted wreck, a funeral was held. Her spirit was to forever inhabit the Hakurei Shrine station as that was the site of her violent end. Cobol's driver was depressed, she was made innocent of what happened. Luckily, before she could take any drastic measure, she was sent to Eientei for medical and psychological examination.

A investigation by the yama, Eiki Shiki, found that the upper management was responsible, for not setting the schedule right. A signalwoman was also charged, because she was asleep when Kenta came by her signalbox.

In all, three kappas and a human were sentenced to be imprisoned in hell for an amount of time that Eiki would determine at a later date. The year 2016 had started with not only a bang but a crash. But not only did Kenta crash, but the shrine maidens crashed too, the two had to increase their ticket prices by twice the standard amount by the next day and prices wouldn't return to normal until February. New safety measures had to be taken on the railway. It would be a while before things returned to normal on the railway. The other engines would feel it.


	6. Epilogue

Reimu and Sanae sat in an office with Remilia Scarlet, also known as the Scarlet Controller. The clock ticked as the three sat and looked at each other in dead silence.

"You two owe me and the railway lots of money. More yen to fill both your empty, empty heads." the Scarlet Controller said in a cold dark voice.

"I-I know, but we could repay you the money! Right?" said Sanae.

"No, not from your donations alone you can't."

"But what I sold you the property of my shrine?" said Reimu.

"Not a chance, you live on such a squalid piece of land. I wouldn't even buy it with a 100 Yen piece." replied the Scarlet Controller.

The two shrine maidens looked down at their feet. They were broke and in debt to the railway and they were to blame. From the severe cuts in prices and to the expensive charter trains that became responsible for a train crash that luckily had only killed one person.

"Here's the deal. But your not going to like it." the Scarlet Controller said, breaking the new round of silence.

"What? We are going to have to sell our bodies?" replied Sanae.

"You wish, you whore." responded Reimu.

"Shut up!"

"No, you."

"Enough! Do you two want to hear what I have to say about your position?"

The two shrine maidens could only nod. "Great! Nice to see you two _cooperate_."

"You two will relinquish your full ticket sales to us for a 90 day period." she continued.

"No! You can't!" said the two mikos in unison.

"I bloody well can. The others approved of the decision, besides, it'll fund Kenta and Cobol's repairs and the new features we have to install on the railway."

The shrine maidens remained indignant until the Scarlet Controller opened her mouth again.

"Your shrines are too important to let them go to waste. You go bankrupt, we go bankrupt. No shrines, no faith, no money, no railway."

Soon it was time for the meeting to end.

"I hate this year." said Sanae.

"It's only the 27th and I already hate 2016. This year is going to suck and continue to suck." replied Reimu.

The two sent their separate ways. Reimu went to have a drink, and Sanae went to manage her now debt ridden shrine. But the two wondered if 2016 was going to be a terrible year for those who lived in the outside world. But Reimu was too drunk to think anymore on the subject and Sanae was too busy being yelled at by Kanako Yasaka and by Suwako Moriya, the resident goddesses, for wasting shrine resources on a silly shrine war with Reimu Hakurei. One could hope that things will turn out for the two.


End file.
